For Vladimir Nabokov( 1899-1977) time's line forms a spiral, as readers
of Speak, Memory know. It is thus fitting that my study, which begins
with Mademoiselle de Maupin ( 1835), should find its completion in a twentieth-century rendering of a work of the early nineteenth century, Aleksandr Pushkin novel in verse, Eugene Onegin (first published 1825-
32). Pushkin ( 1799-1837) was Nabokov's chief literary passion, the writer
whom he most admired and most yearned to know fully, and Eugene
Onegin was the work by Pushkin which Nabokov not only read, translated, annotated, and interpreted, but continuously rewrote throughout
his own fiction. Pushkin's character Onegin is a dandy who dresses in the London fashion, speaks impeccable French, and poses in imitation of Byron and Brummell. That Nabokov's precise yet extravagant version of Eugene Onegin itself constitutes a central text of twentieth-century dandyism it is the aim of this chapter to establish. Translating Pushkin's
novel into English as a four-volume ( Bollingen Press) cultural artifact was
for Nabokov only the central act of translation of that work; all Nabo

Print this page

While we understand printed pages are helpful to our users, this limitation is necessary
to help protect our publishers' copyrighted material and prevent its unlawful distribution.
We are sorry for any inconvenience.